Violence and Tenderness: Abdellah Taïa in conversation with Diego Semerene

Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 17:00-19:00 | OMHP C0.17 

Moroccan writer and filmmaker Abdellah Taïa will engage in a discussion with Diego Semerene (University of Amsterdam) about the act of writing and the motifs that anchor Taïa’s literary and cinematographic works, such as queer melancholia, the sexuality of children, the impossibility of reciprocal love, racism and fetishism, sex work and the effects of colonialism on the bodies of Europe’s perpetual foreigners.

Born in Rabat, Morocco, Abdellah Taïa has written many novels in French, including Salvation Army (2006), An Arab Melancholia (2008) Le Jour du Roi (Prix de Flore, 20210), Infidels (2016), and A Country for Dying (2020), which was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Emma Ramadan’s translation. His most recent novel, Le Bastion des Larmes, was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt 2024 and won the Prix Decembre 2024. He is the director of two award-winning feature films, “Salvation Army” (2013) and “Cabo Negro (2025). He lives in Paris.

Diego Semerene  is Assistant Professor of Queer and Transgender Media at the University of Amsterdam and co-founder, with Misha Kavka, of the Queer Analysis Research Group at the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA). Semerene’s research is at the intersection of trans studies, queer theory, fashion theory and psychoanalysis. Most recent publication: ‘The trans gender subject of fashion’, International Journal of Fashion Studies (2024), https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00105_1

Voices in our Hearts: a writing workshop with Abdellah Taïa

Friday, March 21: 15:00-19:00
Room: TBA

In this workshop led by Taïa, a small group of participants will experiment with various creative exercises and examples from Taïa’s own literary practice.

1 Credit is offered.

Reading: pick one of the following novels by Abdellah Taïa to read before the workshop: Living in Your Light, Salvation Army, An Arab Melancholia, or A Country for Dying.

Only a few spots are available. Please send your name and academic affiliation (university and program), if any to: d.semerene@uva.nl by March 14 at the very latest. If interested in receiving credit, also include your student number.

These events are made possible with the support of ASCA (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis) and NICA (Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis)